COMMITTEE ON STUDENT SERVICES
Minutes of the meeting held on April 16, 2012, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Present: Elizabeth Cawley, Leslie Copeland, Allison Cooper (incoming SSMU VP Clubs and Services), André
Costopoulos, Wes Cross, Carol Fraser, Yusra Khan, Jana Luker, Morton J. Mendelson, Lauren Mundy, Roland Nassim,
Kady Paterson, Milica Popovic, Ian W. Simmie, Aisha Topsakal.
Regrets: Samantha Dimitraki, David J. Lewis, Mary Jo McCullogh, Gauthamie Poolokasingham, Alex Pritz, Usman Bin
Shahid, Neil Verma.
The fourth meeting of the Committee on Student Services (CSS) for the 2011-12 academic year was called to order at
3:05 p.m.
1. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved.
2. Approval of Minutes – 19 March 2012
The Minutes were approved as circulated.
3. Business Arising
None
4. New Business
a) Student Services Presentation: First-Year Office (L. Copeland) [PowerPoint presentation attached]
FYO - Presentation
at CSS. 2012-04-17.pdf
The First-Year Office (FYO) provides year-long support to undergraduate and graduate students new to
McGill. The programs they offer aim to help students adapt to McGill and support academic success
and well-being.
In the past few years, improvements have been made to services for francophone and transfer
students: there is an Assistant to Francophone Students in FYO, and an Orientation session and
outreach to transfer students.
Workshops to support academic success are available to students all year long through the FYO in
cooperation with the faculties. The program, Achievement Builders, reaches out to students on
academic probation who may require additional help.
FYO volunteers are crucial to ensure effective outreach and support at the many orientation sessions
and workshops. Students volunteering with the FYO will be among the first to have a co-curricular
record, which is a pilot project transcript-type document reflecting extra-curricular activities.
The Student Ambassador program, which matches new students with senior students in their faculty
to help them with transitional concerns, served 631 undergraduates and 70 graduate students in
2011.
Front desk front-line support and the FYO website are assigned high priority as they represent the face
of the Office and of the services that they provide.
The website http://www.mcgill.ca/firstyear/ has recently been restructured. One important addition
was the step-by-step instructions for students before they arrive at McGill. In response to the point
made about job opportunities missing from the website, it was noted that it is the responsibility of the
unit to advertise their positions, particularly on MyFuture, which aims to house all job opportunities
on campus.
Outreach is one of the main priorities of the FYO. They are present at the many orientation events for
new students, such as Discover McGill and Street Fest, and they call and email students before and
after they accept the offer to come to McGill.
The biggest obstacle for the FYO is the misconception that they serve only new first-year
undergraduate students. There have been discussions in the past about removing the term “First-
Year” from their title. The Chair suggested that consideration be given to renaming the office.
b) Mental Health - Billing for non-RAMQ items
J. Luker asked for members’ feedback about charging students for items not covered by RAMQ in
Mental Health.
Members advised against charging students for sending the prescription to pharmacies and advised to
take no action, given that the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) will be able to do this once it is
functional.
Members advised to charge for third-party letters consistent with the Student Health procedure. J.
Luker noted that, if this charge is implemented, exceptions would be possible if students are not able
to afford it.
5. Executive Director’s Report
J. Luker confirmed that the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) will soon be relocating to the Redpath
Library street level.
First People’s House and the OSD will be asked to make a presentation at CSS next year.
In response to R. Nassim’s request to see the services’ usage statistics, J. Luker noted that, within the next two
years, the software to track service usage will be functional.
6. Other Business
Review of the CSS Terms of Reference
Prof. Mendelson asked members for their input into the role of the Committee on Student Services and noted
that there would be a review of the Committee’s terms of reference and composition by the Senate Nominating
Committee workgroup in the next academic year.
[Secretary’s Note: Members were sent an email asking for their input after the meeting.]
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.